Pakistan Blocks Anti-US Protest In Tribal Region

TANK, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistan's military has blocked a convoy of thousands of people from entering a lawless tribal region along the border with Afghanistan to protest American drone strikes.

The group was turned back just miles from the border of South Waziristan. Most of the demonstrators are Pakistanis, but there was also a small contingent of U.S. anti-war activists.

The protesters were led by Imran Khan, a former Pakistani cricket star who is now a politician. After an hour of negotiations with the military, he announced that the caravan would backtrack to a city about nine miles away.

In a speech there, he said the message to the United States is, "The more you carry out drone attacks, the more people will hate you."

About three dozen Americans from the anti-war group CODEPINK were part of the march. They say the drone strikes have terrorized peaceful tribes living along the border and have killed many innocent civilians.

The U.S. says the drone strikes are a necessary weapon against militants that Pakistan has been unable or unwilling to control.

The Taliban had threatened to attack the march. The group sees the protest leader as a "slave of the West."